Floating

Genesis 8:1a,3a-"But God remembered Noah...so the floodwaters gradually receded from the earth."

I often wish that God would give just a little more detail into the thoughts that the people of the Bible had. Such as Abraham. Wouldn't you love to know what was going through his head as he made the trek to sacrifice Isaac? Or how about the disciples? The Gospels tell us that when Jesus called them to follow Him, they immediately left, leaving family and jobs behind.

Noah is also one of those guys that I wish we could have more detail on. For several months, he was cooped up in the ark while the world's largest storm was barreling around him. As I read the above verses this morning, I wondered what Noah was thinking. Did he have days where he felt alone and that God had forgotten Him? Was he doubtful of God's protection? Did he wonder if he heard God's voice correctly?  I would have to think that at some point, yes, he did have those moments of uncertainty. After all, he was human. But God does leave that to our own speculation.


I wonder what Noah felt like for those 40 days, where the storm was at its' most intense period. I imagine it to be like a scene from "The Perfect Storm" except lasting for 40 full days. Have you gone through your own storm that seems like it will never end? With life kinda swirling around you and you are left..floating? I remember times of feeling this way. Feelings of anger, loneliness. I remember a specific morning of feeling like this and wondering if God even heard me. A few minutes after praying these thoughts out, my phone buzzed with a text. It was from an old co-worker who I hadn't spoken to in quite some time. She had been burdened to pray for me and wanted to check in to see what was going on. God's voice through a friend, answering me that He does in fact hear me. "But God remembered Noah..." And God remembered me. And He remembers you. And will continue to remember you.

But what I love about storms..they DO have an ending. Physical storms end as well as storms of life. After a storm, there is always some sort of stillness. People wait some time to emerge before whatever clean-up needs to happen. The stillness of waiting can last longer than we want it to or longer than we expect it to. The Bible states that the flood waters covered the earth for 5 months and took another approximately 3 months to start to go down. "So the floodwaters gradually receded from the earth..." How similar this is to life and the testings we go through. God often delivers us from our storm but into a waiting pool. A time of stillness and inactivity. A time where we are forced to sit. But as I have mentioned here, God is not a waster of time and uses periods of waiting to draw us even more closely to Him and to deepen our relationship with God.

And then, soon enough,  the olive branch appears. After Noah had waited these months for the water to die down, he released a dove. The first time, the dove returned right away because the ground was still covered. More waiting. But after the second time, the dove appeared with an olive branch, symbolizing that the waters are coming down. Dry ground is appearing. Did you know that there are olive branches surrounding us? Symbols of God's faithfulness of deliverance? Signs of Him working even though it may seem slow? They come in the form of words from friends or family; a verse that speaks directly to your heart; a person being burdened to pray for you. And the list can go on. Be persistent. Keep looking. God is speaking. Noah had to send out the dove 3 times before he knew his wait was over.

Before you know it, God's rainbow of promise will be revealed, symbolizing His forever faithfulness. It may not come in the time frame we hoped or in the way we had anticipated. There may be pain involved and overwhelming trials. But it will come if we choose to persevere. Because of Jesus, there is always hope.

Adoption Adventures: 2 Years (and counting) of Grace

I can't believe that it has been just over 2 years that we have been in our adoption process. I remember vividly Adam and I out having dinner and with tears in our eyes decided it was time to start the paperwork to having our family. These 2 years have been the hardest, most beautiful, slowest, and fastest 2 years of our lives.  2 years that have been  completely covered in grace.

An update:
We met with our social worker, Carol, who is in charge of our home study. She came out to our house to update any information that may have changed. It had been almost a year since we had seen her last, so we had a wonderful time catching up with her. We showed her the hope chest that my sister in law and brother gave us for Christmas 2 years ago and told her that we are getting ready to prepare for our nursery. She was very excited. We've had some opportunities to talk about faith and adoption with her and she said, "You are a couple who definitely lives by your principles."

We just spoke with our adoption agency in Indiana (who will be placing us with the baby) and Emily, who is in charge of matching us with moms, said that she just handed out our profile to a young lady yesterday. She was looking for a couple who was a Christian family. Emily isn't quite positive that this mom will choose an adoption plan as she has already spoken to 4 other families and is being very selective (which is a very good thing!), but you never know what will happen. Our profile may also be shown next week to another family as well! Our hopes are definitely not up about either of these families as we know the process can be extremely slow. But we are reassured that at least there are families reading about us:) Will you join us in praying for these 2 families?
Emily stated that she loves our profile and knows that someone will be drawn to it. She also told us that we are one of the very few couples who talked about our faith in our profile and many searching mothers are looking for a family of faith to raise their baby. Our conversation with her left us greatly encouraged and excited.

We know that as we get closer to being matched with a mother, everyone will be interested in her and her situation. Adam and I had a long conversation about this the other day and have decided to keep her story private. Our reason is that we feel our baby should be the first to know about her and want to protect him/her from finding something out before we were able to talk about it. Every mom's situation is different and we can't control certain choices that they make. We want everyone in our life to see her as we see her~ a woman who loves her baby so much that she is willing to make the ultimate sacrifice. We don't want anything to jade that. Thank you in advance for respecting our privacy on this!

God's grace continues to cover us. We have learned :
* With God, there is no time wasted, even in waiting. He has used these 2 years to grow us as a couple, strengthen our faith, and grow in a deeper relationship with Him then we could have ever done otherwise. I am thankful for it. Really. Only because of Jesus can sadness turn into true joy and absolute contentment.

* God is our Protector. Yes, there have been some disappointments along the way. Our main one was when Moldova's adoption program closed. I know some of have said to us how "relieved" they were that we weren't adopting from an orphanage. But there was actually great sadness that came with our decision to pull out of it. Those were very hard weeks. We then talked about moving to the Russia program and had contemplated that for a bit. But, Russia's program is now closed. God's protection over us. We are so grateful.

* God is our Provider. We entered this 2 years ago with just enough money to get the process started. We knew for the rest, we literally had to come before God daily to ask for provision. We decided not to fund raise and just pray our way through it. Our faith has grown immensely because of this. God has placed so many people in our path that have covered us financially. We continue to be amazed.

I am praying over opportunities to do more writing and have been asked by a few different people if I would consider writing a book. I have recently been able to do some devotional writing for Proverbs 31 Ministries "Encouragement Cafe" and am leaning towards a devotional-style book geared for those in waiting. I think "Glued By Grace" will be the title, but who knows. Stay tuned. :) I am going to a writing conference sponsored by P31 Ministries this July and am so excited to get to meet some fabulous Christian women. I am so thankful for Adam. He is beyond supportive. He said "If God is calling you to it, you need to go, despite the cost." Love him. :)

We are blessed by each of you. Thanks so much for always checking in:)

Verse of Hope/Quick update

It has been awhile since I have given an update, so thought I would send out a quick one. There isn't much new news to share, just that we continue to wait on the list to be matched with a mom and her baby. Our profile has been shown to at at least one woman, but she chose another family. We were happy to at least know that our profile has been passed out! We are still fairly new to this waiting list, so we know that we probably won't be successfully matched until the end of this year, or a little after. The light is slowly showing at the end of this 2 year tunnel. :) We had to resubmit some of our paperwork as it expired (which is normal) and will be meeting with our social worker in March to update our homestudy.
Many of you have asked how we are feeling. The best way I can describe it is like a woman who is 9 months pregnant and just wants the baby OUT...that is how we are feeling :) We are READY. Ready for this little miracle to be here. Unlike a pregnant woman, tho, we don't have a due date. That is the hard part for us. So we continue to wait and pray. Praying especially for this young lady who God has chosen for us to be blessed by. If I look at our timeframe, she is more than likely entering her own time of crisis right now. Our paths will soon be crossing.
This past weekend, I have been thinking back over these last several years and all of the emotions God has graciously brought us through. And "grace" is the only word I can use to describe it. God's grace is in abundance and his mercies truly are new every morning. I am humbled by God's deliverance~ deliverance from pain and sadness and how He has replaced it with excitement and joy. Joy for how He has created us. Joy for how He has decided to form our family. And joy for the days we have left as just the two of us.
For those of you who are still waiting in what seems like a desert, I wanted to share some of God's promises that gave, and continue to give, me unending hope:

 

"Where once there were thorns, cypress trees will grow.

Where nettles grew, myrtles will sprout up.

These events will bring great honor to the Lord's name;

They will be an everlasting sign of His power and love."

Isaiah 55:13

 

"The deserts will become as green as the mountains of Lebanon,

as lovely as the Mount Carmel or the plain of Sharon.

There the Lord will display His glory, the splendor of our God.

With this news, strengthen those who have tired hands,

and encourage those who have weak knees.

Springs will gush forth in the wilderness

and streams will water the wasteland.

Those who have been ransomed by the Lord will return.

They will enter Jerusalem singing,

crowned with everlasting joy.

Sorrow and mourning will disappear,

and they will be filled with joy and gladness."

excerpts from Isaiah 35



For days like these...

I went to bed last night with a heavy heart and woke up this morning with the same feeling. My heart is completely broken and just aches for the families in Connecticut who are left behind to deal with the tragedy of the school shooting. My mind just can't wrap itself around the atrocity of it. While I am not a mother, I saw specific faces in my mind throughout Friday night: faces of my 3 nephews, faces of dear friends' children who I love dearly, faces of family members who are school teachers. And my heart just broke.
We live in a broken, fallen world. It's on days like this past Friday that I am reminded of the magnitude of the sin that envelopes our communities. Pure evil, really. But because there is evil, there HAS to be Good. The only Good in this world is our hope in Jesus Christ. Because of Jesus we have the opportunity to receive His grace fully and completely. Because of His mercy, we are permitted to become sons and daughters of God and have fullness of life for eternity. Because of Jesus, the war against sin and evil will soon be won. He always remains victorious.
This is my hope. This is my comfort. As I watched the news Friday night, I had to walk away. All I could pray was "Jesus, come quickly." I long for the day when Jesus returns. When evil loses and when Good reigns victorious. I am choosing to believe His promise: " In this world there will be trouble. But take heart. I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)
My prayer is that the God of all comfort and of all peace will wrap His arms around each person affected by this tragedy and that they will be drawn to the hope that rests only in Jesus.

"You keep track of all my sorrows.

You have collected all my tears in your bottle.

 You have recorded each one in your book."

Psalm 56:8

 

"Come to Me, all of you who are weary

and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you.

Let me teach you,

because I am humble and gentle at heart,

 and you will find rest for your souls."

 Matthew 11:28-29

Giveaway Winner and Reflection Verses

Thank you to each of you who left comments on my blog, comments on the Encouragement Cafe links, and the encouraging e-mails I received. I am so thankful for EACH of you! The winner of the free copy of Ann Voskamp's "1,000 Gifts" is CJW! Please e-mail me at colleengyoung@gmail.com and send me your mailing address. Please put "book giveaway" in the subject line so I know it's you. :)

I don't know where you all live, but here in New England, it is a beautiful Saturday morning. I woke up early and drove to the beach to walk and have my quiet time. I just wanted to share a couple of verses to reflect on this weekend:

Psalm 143:8~ "Let me hear of Your unfailing love each morning, for I am trusting You. Show me where to walk for I give myself to You."

Ephesians 3:18-19 "And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God."

 

Romans 8:31 "If God is for us, who can ever be against us?"

 

Heart Makeover and a Giveaway!

Good morning! If you found my blog from the devotional I have running over at "Encouragement Cafe" , welcome! I am so glad you stopped by!
Learning the discipline of contentment is not easy. It is a daily lesson. However, it is something that God has desired for us so we can have fullness of life.

Not too long ago I was caught in the trap of comparing myself to others, wishing I had certain things that they had. God worked and worked, and I tried to ignore and ignore. Until He put the brakes on it. He literally gave me a heart makeover. Instead of wishing time away or wishing I had something I didn't, He taught me to see Him in each day~ whether it was a day filled with happiness and laughter or a day filled with struggle and tears.  One of the simple prayers that I have started praying before I step out the door to begin my day is "God, I want to see You and hear from You today." Some days He is obvious; some days I have to search. In the end, His fingerprints are there.

Contentment isn't a lesson that was taught when everything in life was going smoothly. For me, it has been the opposite~ it has been during times of struggle and hardship. I have found that the valleys are God's classroom and we can choose to sit in the front and learn as much as we can, or sit in the back and pretend to ignore Him.
The first step is meditating on His words. Pick a verse. Read it. Study it. Let it become the forefront of your mind. God's promises are alive and active and have the ability to transform our hearts and mind. God's Word is also our protection from any kind of sin, such as jealousy.
Then start writing. I think you will be amazed at how God shows up in each day. My journal has especially helped me during our adoption and track the faithfulness of God in big and small ways.

I would love to hear from you! I am giving away one of my most favorite books, "1,000 Gifts" by Ann Voskamp. Her insights about contentment and living each day to the fullest have been life changing and I would love to share this with someone. So, please leave a comment below and check back here tomorrow or subscribe for e-mail notifications on the right hand side to see who won!
Praying that you see God's gifts surrounding you today!

Reflection:

Psalm 118:24~ "This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."

Psalm 116:7~ " Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the Lord has been good to you."

Psalm 108:1,3-4~ " My heart is steadfast, O God, I will sing and make music with all my soul...I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples. For great is your love, higher than the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies."

Check out Ann Voskamp's blog: www.aholyexperience.com for daily post on how to live a joy filled life!

Meditating on God's Love

If you are dropping by because you read my devotional "Difficult but Beautiful" running over at Encouragement Cafe, welcome! I am so happy you are here!
Adoption has stretched my faith in more ways than I could ever expect. I am forever grateful. When I stopped to reflect on God's adoption process for me and for you, I was blown away. There was sacrifice. There were tears. There was physical and emotional pain. Yet this was all directed by Love.
I was adopted by Jesus at 4 years old so for most of my life I have known that God loves me and have read about it and have talked about it. It is so easy to become complacent with such simple statements and not delve into the truth behind it. Adoption has deepened my understanding of the love that God has bestowed upon me and has caused me to meditate on what exactly His love means.

I want to share just a few verses with you that have spoken to me. I encourage you to take some time over the next few days and meditate on them, also. Take a walk before your day starts. Grab a journal and a cup of coffee or whatever you do to start your day that allows your heart to focus on the Lord. My prayer is that your relationship with Jesus will deepen because of what He did on the Cross.

Ephesians 2:4-5~ "But God is so rich in mercy and He loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, He gave us life when He raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God's grace that you have been saved!)

Ephesians 1:7-8~ "So we praise God for the glorious grace He has poured out on us who belong to His dear Son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of His Son and forgave our sins. He has showered His kindness on us, along with wisdom and understanding.

Matthew 11:28-30~ "Come to me , all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you because I am humble and gentle at heart and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light."

His love for us is deep, wide, and overflowing. We are adopted into His family when we come before Him with a repentant heart and acknowledge that without Jesus, we have separation from Him because of our sin. This separation is dissolved when we place our full trust in the Cross of Jesus and claim the forgiveness that Jesus has offered. By the Cross we become children of God and are forever adopted into His family. Just as when our baby comes home, he/she will be forever ours. Nothing can change that. So it is with God. Nothing can separate us from the love that He has given us.He will forever be our Father.
I continue to be humbled that the God of the universe, the Creator, has adopted me as His daughter. He is my Father; I am part of His family! It is just simply amazing.
I am praying for each of you today, that the message of the Cross will seep into your hearts and that the love of Jesus will become more real to you today than it has ever been.